and not to have a name written in it, is not to be owned as God's fons and faithful fervants: When therefore St. John faith, that they whose names were not in this book of life, writ from the foundation of the world, worshipped the beast, he means they, and they only, did fo, who never were by God eleemed or regiftered in the number of good chriflians.

2dly. The paffage cited from the Theffalonians concerns only the Jews, who having rejected the gofpel of our Lord, and their Meffiah, confirmed by the ftrongeft evidence of innumerable miracles done truly before their eyes, and fo believed not the truth at all, or else revolted from it after they had embraced it by an almost general apoftafy, and fo received it not in the love of it that they might be faved, declaring that they were by God's juft judgment permitted by the falfe miracles of their impoftors, affifted by the power of Satan, to believe a lie, and so to perifh for their infidelity or apoftaly, as hath been fully proved; and fhould this be enlarged to all who refufe to believe the truth preached and confirmed to them, or elfe bore no fincere affection to it when they had embraced it, what is this to an eternal decree of reprobation fuppofed to be made concerning the greater part of mankind before the world was made?

Laftly. As for the paffages cited from Rom, ix. they can be nothing to the purpose, that chapter being not at all defigned to determine any thing concerning God's Abfolute Decrees of dealing with mankind in general, or any particular person thus or thus, as to their final and eternal ftate; but only to juftify his dealing, as in his providence he actually had done, with the unbelieving Jews and the believing Gentiles, in rejecting the Jews upon their ftubborn infidelity, and the hardness of their hearts, and admitting the believing Gentiles to be his church, and the fpiritual feed of Abraham, upon their faith, and fubmiffion to the terms God had propofed for their juftification and acceptance with him; as appears,

1. From his recapitulation of his whole difcourfe in thefe words, ver. 30. Tì & peper, what do we Jay then, i. e. what is the fubftance of what I have intended in this whole difcourfe? it is even this, That the Gentiles which (before the preaching of the gofpel) followed not after righteousness, have yet (through faith) attained unto righteousness; but the Jews following after the law of righteoufnefs (or after righteoufnefs by the law) have not obtained unto righteousness, because they fought it not by faith (in Chrift.)

edly. This is apparent from the apostle's prayer and vehement defire that all Ifrael might be Javed, Chap. x. 1. for upon fup

pofition of fuch a Decree of Reprobation concerning them, this must not only have been a vain prayer, but even an oppofing of his will, and ivdoxia, to the good pleafure of God, revealed to him; fince it is evident he prays here for the falvation of all Ifrael, of them whofe zeal to God was not according to knowledge, and who were ignorant of God's righteouf nefs, ver. 2, 3 and not for those only who were predeftinated to falvation.

CHAPTER II.

Containing Arguments against this Abfolute Decree of Reprobation or Preterition of Fallen Man.

I

COME now to fhew that this doctrine is plainly contrary both to the nature and the will of God.

To the perfections of his nature, for,

SECTION 1. God doth immutably, unchangeably, and from the neceffary perfection of his own nature, require that we fhould love, fear and obey him; were it not fo, the Hea thens who can only know this by the light of nature, or by confideration of the divine perfections, would lie under no obligations to love, fear or ferve him, whereas among the Heathen fages, ἕπεσθαι and πείθεσθαι τῷ θεῷ, to oley God, and followe his directions, is reprefented as the perfection, and the chief end of man; Again, his moral and imitable perfections, viz. his holiness, juftice, truth, goodneis, mercy, being effential perfections flowing from his nature, muft alfo be the rule of the exercife of his will and power; and as God, whilft he is what he is, cannot but be the proper object of our love, fear and our obedience, even fo by the complacency he hath in thofe moral perfections, he cannot but be defirous that all men fhould imitate them, and refemble him in them as much as they are able, and therefore hath required his people to be holy, because the Lord their God is holy, to be merciful as their heavenly Father is merciful, to be kind to the unthankful and the wicked that they may be his children, to he righteous as he is righteous, and to put on the new man which is created after God in righteoufnefs and true holiness. Hence the philofo

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phers have, by the light of nature, confpired in this truth, that man then walks moft fuitably to his nature and his dignity, when he walks after the example of God, that the very end of all philofophy xai riλos To avoρws, and the perfection of hu man nature, confifts in being like to God; and that we then best glorify him when we refemble him in these perfections; that it ought to be his chief care out, to live the life of God, συμπολιτεύεσθαι τὸ converfe fill with him ομοιωθήναι to be hike him, and busyvwμovñoal to be of the fame mind, will and affec tions to him, and, laftly, to be eocopiero poffeffed and acted by him. He therefore cannot have decreed, that is, have willed, that the greatest part of men fhould be for ever left under an incapacity of loving, fearing and obeying him; and feeing He must earnestly defire that all men fhould be holy, righteous, kind and merciful, He cannot have ordained they should be otherwife for want of any thing on his part requifite to make them fo; much lefs can he command them under the penalty of his fevere difpleafure fo to be, and yet leave them under an incapacity of being fo. And does he think worthily of God, who knowing that all the lapfed fons of Adam were equally the objects of his pity, and commiferation, equally ca pable of his mercy, and equally his offspring, and fo no more unworthy of it than the reft, believes that his decrees of erning and difpofing of them are wholly founded on such an abfolute will as no rational or wife man acts by; fo that he determines of the everlafting fate of the fouls he daily doth create after the fall of Adam, without refpect to any good or evil done by them, and fo without respect to any reason why he puts this difference, or any condition on their parts; and yet afterwards in all his revelations made in order to the reg ulating of their lives, fufpends that everlasting ftate upon con ditions or that he hath placed the far greateft part of them under an Abfolute Decree of Reprobation, which leaves them uncapable of falvation, and then not only bids them fave them felves, invites, encourages, and fends meflengers to entreat them to be reconciled, knowing he doth all this in vain, when he does no more, and then eternally torments them for neglecting that falvation, though he knows they never can do otherwife without that grace which he hath abfolutely purposed for ever to deny to, or withhold from them? Surely he thinks more worthily of the God of love and mercy, who looks upon him as an universal lover of the Touls of men, who therefore would have all men to be faved, and gives them all things neceffary unto life and godliness, draws them to him with the cords of a man, the cords of love," and by the most alluring promiles, and by the ftrivings of his holy spirit; fwears to them that he would not they should perif; warns thent of,

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and conjures them to avoid the things which tend to their e ternal ruin; directs them to the means by which they may moft certainly efcape it; rejoiceth more at the converfion of one finner, than at the righteousness of ninetynine perfons: who need no repentance; and when all the methods of his grace are loft upon them, breaks forth into compaffionate and melting wifhes, that they had known the things which do belong to their eternal peace. Again, confider whether he conceives more truly and honorably of God, who thinks he choofes his favorites without reafon and rewards them without any qualifications, but thofe he irrefiftibly works in them; or he who looks upon him as one who dealeth with all men not according to his but their own works, as they are willing and obedi ent, as they render themselves fit objects of his love, and rewards them as they ufe duly, or receive his grace in vain, as they improve the talents he hath given them, or hide them in a napkin? Whether, laftly, he reprefents God: honorably, who believes that God by his revealed will hath declared he would have all men to be faved, and yet by an antecedent fe cret will, would have the greatest part of them to perish; that he hath impofed a law upon them which he requires them to obey on penalty of his eternal difpleafure, though he knows they cannot do it without his irresistible grace, and yet is abfolutely refolved to withhold this grace from them, and then to punish them eternally for what they could not do without it; and after all inquiries, Why will you die? how long will it be ere this people obey me? when wilt thou be made clean? what could I have done more for their welfare which I have not done? Or he who believes it more agreeable to the truth, and the fincerity of the divine nature, to deal plainly with his creatures, and mean what he fays; and therefore not to feem very defirous they fhould do, or avoid, what he knows they never could do or avoid, and he will not enable them to do or avoid, and then complains that they have not done it, and inquires what was wanting on his part to enable them to do it? SECTION II-adly. This will be further evident from thofe fcriptures which declare God is longfuffering to us. ward, not being willing that any should perish, but that all fhould come to repentance; and that he tent his prophets to prevent their ruin, becaufe he had compaffion on them: That he commands his prophets on peril of contracting the guilt of their blood, to warn his people, that without repentance and reformation they muft die, and to let them know, that as fure as he lives he would not the death of him that dies, but rather would have him turn and live; and that therefore they could have no reafon to fay his ways were not equal, or that they fuffered for their fathers fins. For,

ff. Doth it become the wisdom of God to ufe, or to appoint those means for the affecting what he would have done, which he knows to be no means, because no ways fufficient to produce the affigned end; and to withhold, yea, to decree to withhold that which alone could make them fo? And yet if he ufed only his tong Juffering to lead men to repentance, fent only prophets and meffengers to warn them to turn from the evil of their ways; and this long fuffering, and these warnings must be ineffectual to thefe ends, where that unfruftrable grace which he did not vouchfafe is wanting; he ufed only means which he knew never could produce thefe ends, and withheld that which could alone produce them.

edly. Doth it become the fincerity and wifdom of God to declare he did these things out of compaffion to his people, till they fo far despised his mellengers, and rejected their warnings and admonitions, that there was no further remedy for them, no healing of them, faith the Hebrew, when he himself beheld them in their Eutopian maffa perdita, without the leaft compaffion, never defigning them any remedy; or, which is in event the fame, not any that could be effectual, but even then decreeing to withhold from them that grace, without which there could be no healing by any meffenger or prophet lent unto them? Does it become either his wifdom or fincerity to quarrel with his people for faying the fathers had eaten four grapes and the childrens teeth were fet on edge; or that they died for the fins of their forefathers, or for inquiring thus, if our tranfgreffions and our fins lie upon us, and we pine away in them, can we then live? when his decree had made it the fad doom, not of them only, but even of the greatest part of mankind, to die eternally for the fin of their forefather Adam, and the apple he had eaten fo long ago, fet all his childrens teeth on edge, and made fo many precious fouls to pine away in that iniquity, fo that they could not live? Or could he hope to manifeft the equity of his ways by faying, all fouls are mine, if he was not only like the Offrich to the greateft part of them, (a) hardening himself against his own offspring, made after his own image, as if they were not his, but even making the most of them, after the fall of Adam, under that previous act of Preterition, which rendered their damnation unavoidable? Is he fo concerned to juftify the Equity of his proceedings by declaring that the Jon fhall not die a temporal death for the iniquity of his father, but the foul that perfonally fenneth he shall die; when this more obvious exception lay against the equity of his proceedings with the fons of inen, that most of the fons of Adam lay under death eternal by his peremptory decree for the fin of their forefather, committed

(a) Job xxxix. 16.